She started breathing heavily. She was zoned out, unblinking, kind of like the night I told her I knew about her and Noah. Like she was pretending to be elsewhere. Her breath hitched in her throat as she spoke quietly. “I guess I deserved it, dressing like this. What did I expect wearing this dress?”
“Hey. You don’t fucking deserve to be raped. No one does, no matter what they wear. Even if you were dancing around naked, you wouldn’t deserve that,” I said, getting up and moving to the couch to sit beside her.
Her eyes were watery, like she was on the verge of crying again. “Thank you,” she whispered, finally looking at me.
The hurt on her face, the sadness in her eyes, her chest heaving because she was breathing so ruggedly. I couldn’t fucking take it anymore. Even if she had screwed around on me, she didn’t deserve this.
She went to stand but I grabbed her hand before she could get away. I pulled her down onto me, moving her legs up so I could cradle her. She buried her face in my neck and I rubbed her back as she cried. Sobbed. Her body shook as tears fell down her cheeks, getting soaked up by my shirt.
I pushed her hair behind her shoulder and smoothed it, letting her get her emotions out for once.
“It’s all true, isn’t it?” I asked after a few minutes.
Dani lifted her head, her red, puffy eyes burning into mine. “What?”
“That night at the masquerade ball. Someone took you. Everything you said was true.”
I wasn’t surprised that Dante had lied to my face–most likely, he was the one who arranged the entire thing. When I confronted him about it in front of Dad, he needed to do damage control.
“Kane…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You had nofuckingright. How did you even hear that? There aren’t any cameras in your library.”
“They’re hidden. Do you really think I’d let a room in my place go unsurveilled? Look, your dad said–”
“You told him? Do you want to get me killed?” She asked as she jumped up from my lap. “When did you tell him?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a week ago? I asked in front of my dad hoping to catch them if they were hiding it.”
She braced herself on the counter and let her head hang. “Oh my god.”
“He’s not going to fucking touch you again, okay? I can help you,” I said as I walked up behind her.
She spun around quickly and pointed her finger into my chest. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to act like everything is normal. You’re going to pretend like we still hate each other, and at the moment, that’s not a stretch for me. I will handle whatever my father has in store for me, and you will stay out of it. Got it?”
“Why won’t you let me help you?”
“Because you can’t!”
“We can’t let him get away with this shit anymore.”
“I’m working on something,” she said quietly. “And if you act like anything is off, he’ll figure it out and I’ll be dead. Worse than dead. So just pretend like you never heard any of that.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to do that? It’s been bothering the hell out of me,” I said as I shoved my hands through my hair, leaning against the counter next to her.
“It didn’t seem to bother you as you accused me of fucking Noah. Or when you called me a whore and fucked me before kicking me out of your house. Or when you kissed Lauren a few hours ago, shoving it in my face.” She put her hands on her hips, her gaze hardening on me, knowing damn well she was right.
I treated her like Dante would treat her. Like she wasn’t worth anything. Except she was. And I was the asshole that made her feel like she wasn’t.
Fuck.
If–and it was a big if–Noah had been lying, I’d get to the bottom of why he would do that to me.
Before I could respond, the door flew open and Dominic walked in. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” Dani said as she collected her bag and walked to her brother.
“I could’ve driven you home.”
“I’m all set, Kane. Thanks though.”